


A Dance Through The Fire

by BumblingFangirl13



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Astral Projection, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, He's still a badass though, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I regret everything, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Torture, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Loki Whump, Magic, Magic Is Just Science We Don't Understand Yet, Mind Manipulation, Mouth Sewn Shut, No Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PTSD, Rating May Change, Team as Family, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Thor's trying, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trust Issues, loki hates everything, mild body horror, the odinson family's terrible communication skills
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-05-17 23:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14841135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BumblingFangirl13/pseuds/BumblingFangirl13
Summary: “If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice, where he cannot find you! You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain!” -The OtherWhen the Other uses the last dredges of the link in Loki's mind to summon him Loki has no illusions of forgiveness. He lasts about ten months before fleeing into the furthest reaches of his mind to escape the pain. For everyone else it appeared that he had escaped, slipped through Asgard's walls like the ghostly snake he is. He could come back at any time. For all they know he’s out there right now with an army, ready to strike. When he finally does come back, hurtling trough a portal, the Avenger's lives are turned upside down.





	1. How It Came To This

Loki couldn’t do it anymore. When they had used the last dredges of their link to his mind to summon him he had been afraid and when they’d begun he was terrified, now he was nothing. He couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t bring himself to care. No one had come for him the first time and no one would this time.

This time they weren’t holding back. This time they didn’t need him. This time all they wanted was vengeance. This time he knew it was only a matter of time before his body simply gave out.

So as his eyes closed and black wandered over his vision he smiled, black thread cutting into his lips, even if this wasn’t death at least he would get to sleep.

He could do that.

Sleep...

\---

Thanos sat on his throne. Blue lights glowing around him casting unholy shadows on the face of the Other.  


“My lord,” The creature rasped.

Thanos gazed at the Chitauri, “What.” He did not have the patience for this. The worm didn’t have the trickster with him so Thanos was hardly interested.

“We have a problem.”

Well _now_ he was interested. He leaned forward. “What do you mean ‘problem’.”

“The runt,” began the Other, “It won’t wake.”

Thanos rumbled, “Did you kill it already?” his eyes took a dangerous glint. “I thought I told you that I was to be the one to kill the traitor.”

The Other grovelled at his feet. “It is not yet dead, but it is not responding either, we have tried everything.”

The titan was eerily quiet. “Bring him to me.”

As the Other scurried away Thanos contemplated whether or not this was a trick. Loki had played dead a number of times the first time around, but he was always played dead not unresponsive. He was brought out of his musings by the Other’s return. He was accompanied by two Chitauri guards who dragged the limp trickster behind them. They flung his body to the centre to the room and backed off.

Thanos rose and stalked toward Loki. Turning the body over the titan started. If this was a trick it was flawless. He didn’t look any better or worse than the day before, that had always been the give away; he had looked like he was in the first stages of decay, but now it just looked like he was sleeping.

The Mad Titan nudged him with one heavy boot, impassive look smeared on his face.

No response.

Not even a twitch.

Suddenly he laughed, a horrible rumble that could freeze the blood of anyone who heard it. “We broke him!” He continued to laugh, nearly bent double, grasping the arm of his throne while the chitauri looked on in horror.

“We broke him!” Still chuckling the Mad One continued. “Where do we have the energy to dump the body?”

The Other stepped forward, “We could send it to the Earth or possibly Xandar.”

Thanos grinned. “The human world? We could do that.” he sat upon the throne again. “Yes, let the humans finish him off. It would have been more amusing to deliver him to Asgard but this will do.” He waved a hand. “If you still hold any sway over his mind release it. We don’t want anyone getting wind of my plans just yet.”

The massive titan reclined against the black stone and gestured to Loki’s body “Go. Get rid of it. Let the mortals destroy what’s left of him. By this point he’ll be as weak as one of them anyway.”

With smug confidence the titan watched as the Other opened a small portal and flung the body though.

Another day, another gift for his Lady Death.


	2. A Body in the Water

**** All was quiet in the avengers common room.

That was, until Tony Stark decided that silence was overrated.

"You want some?"

Bruce looked up from the screen in front of him to see Tony holding an open bottle of scotch. 

"What?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Do. You. Want. Some? Jeez you'd think I'd asked you to solve a complex thermonuclear astrophysiology equation or something." He waved the bottle again. “You should take a break! Come on! We haven’t had a good ‘Strut Session’ for what? Ten months?”

Turning, Bruce stared at Tony for a moment. 

“Tony, Loki escaped from Asgard ten months ago. He could come back at any time. For all we know he’s out there right now.”

Tony snorted.

Sighing Bruce shut his laptop and rubbed his forehead. "Tony how many glasses have you had?"

"One… or two. I don’t care." the billionaire flapped a hand in Bruce's general direction. "They're not gonna kill me... yet."

Bruce opened his mouth to respond when all of a sudden ACDC's Highway to Hell began to blare from Tony's phone.

Putting on his best robot face Tony winked at Bruce, who rolled his eyes, and answered the phone.

"You have reached the life model decoy of-"

_ "Cut the crap Stark this is serious." _

"Well what do you know!" Tapping the screen he put the phone on speaker. "Our favorite angry pirate!"

Bruce could practically hear Fury glowering.

_ "Stark I mean it. You and Banner better take a look outside your window right now because there's a portal opening up over the East River _ ."

Scotch went everywhere. Off to the side Bruce gaped at the phone as Tony gagged. "There's a what opening over the what?!"

_ "A portal genius, on your river. It has a similar reading to the one created by the Tesseract. If anything comes out of it bring it in or turn it to ash." _

Tony and Bruce glanced at each other then back at the phone. Tony held the phone a little closer to his face. "Got it."

_ "Good now get your avenging asses out there." _

He hung up and stared at the phone in his hands.

"Jarvis?"

_ "Yes sir?" _

"Suit. Hit me. Now." The emergency armor came flying out of its place in the wall and wrapped around his body.

"Wait, Tony!" Bruce said running after him. "What do I do?"

Tony's voice sounded mechanical from inside the suit. "Nothing yet buddy. I'm not back in 10 minutes... well... We'll get there when we get there."

Bruce nodded. "Okay."

Tony fired up his thrusters and leapt from the balcony.

"Alright Jarvis what have you got for me?"

_ "It appears that the portal is quite small. I doubt that an army is coming this time." _

"Good to know." he said, scanning the display, "What else you got?"

_ "From what I can tell this portal is most likely composed of energy left over from the first one.” _

“Epic, anything coming through?”

_ ”There is a single life form falling from the portal, but my readings from it are extremely weak. It appears to be dying." _

"What!? What does it look like? Zoom in on it!"

_ "The being is appears to be a full-grown male. He is severely injured, my scans detect sever burning,  _ _ assorted _ _ lacerations and many broken bones. Also, it seems he is running a high fever." _

"Shit. Call Bruce and tell him to have the medical bay all set up. I don't care whether it's an alien coming to attack us, if it's dying it needs help." Tony paused to squint at the figure on his screen. "Jarvis, can you tell me what that is. If it’s something like Thor the info might help Bruce set up the med bay."

_ "Based on my assessments I believe the alien is Loki." _

"WHAT!" Tony threw his hands up braking in midair.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me I'm saving Loki?!"

_ "Because I don't believe that he is a threat. Also, my programing does not allow you or myself to make biased decisions based on past actions without proper evaluation of the current situation. He needs immediate medical attention and I cannot allow that to go unnoticed." _

As Jarvis spoke Tony watched the tiny dot of life hurtle towards the river.

_ "I recommend you hurry if you want to catch him before he hits the water. I don't think you have an enough time." _

"Okay, okay, I’m totally going to regret this, revert all power to the thrusters and fill the air tanks."

_ "Already done Sir." _

He maneuvered himself back into a streamlined position and blasted back on course.

As Tony neared the water he saw Loki's body get closer and closer until BOOM! His limp form hit the water in what Tony could only describe as 'reverse bellyflop'.

"Here goes nothing."

Streamlining his suit Tony dove into the water, headlights glowing in the murky water. 

“How much time we got J.?” 

“ _ I estimate 30 minutes Sir, although Mr. Laufeyson will not be able to retain air capacity for that long. _ ”

Tony growled, switching his underwater headlights to high. “Goddamn Gods, goddamn Asgard, goddamn Loki! Ughhhhh!”

He quickly located the god’s unmoving form on the murky riverbed. Sliding his arms under him Tony blasted off the bottom trailing bubbles behind him. As he exited the water Tony poured as much energy as he could into getting back to the tower, Loki’s limp form hanging lifelessly from his arms.

“Bruce, come in Bruce.” Tony said, connecting back to the coms. 

When the doctor answered he sounded frantic. “Is Jarvis right; is it Loki? Are you hurt, Jarvis said He was hurt? What’s going on? Is he with you? How conscious is he? Is he dangerous? Should I call Fury? What do we tell him?”

“No.” Tony answered, “Whatever you do don’t tell Fury. You need to see this first.” He hung up and glance at the body in his arms. 

Loki was lifeless. If not for the weak rise and fall of his chest Tony would have thought him dead. Innumerable burns, punctures and gashes had been opened painting a gruesome picture of mutilation on the planes of his body. What wasn’t covered in blood was covered in bruising. But worst were the stitches. Thick black thread had been sewn between his lips like some grotesque embroidery on his face. The skin around them was red and inflamed. They weren’t the most horrific wounds, but the message they sent was by far the worst one. It was probably best that Loki was unconscious, Tony felt like puking just at the sight of it all. 

When he touched down Bruce was there with a gurney, looking just about ready to pass out.

Laying Loki’s prone form down Bruce gaped. “Where ever he was for the last ten months I don’t think it was with friends.” 

Tony retracted his mask and stepped out of the suit. “No shit Sherlock.”

They wheeled him into the Medical wing Bruce shouting orders to Tony and Jarvis. They hooked Loki up to so many different machines that after about two minutes Tony lost count.

Suddenly the sound that they had been dreading rang across the room. They started; flatline.

Bruce shoved Tony’s hands away and immediately began compressions. He whipped up to look at Tony long enough to bark another order. He may have been scary as the Hulk but in a medical setting Banner was terrifying, you did what he said.

“I need one mg epinephrine! It may not work but right now it’s the best we’re gonna do!”

Tony stared at him as he pushed down on Loki’s bleeding chest. “Tony! Now!”

He snapped out of his daze and, following Jarvis’ instructions, filled a syringe and passed it to Bruce who shot it into Loki arm.

“Tony takeover compressions.” They swapped places and Bruce did a rhythm check. He tensed in worry. “He’s still asystole.” faster than Tony could follow Banner injected medicine after medicine, hooking Loki up to another heart rate monitor. 

The Hulk may have been Banner’s monster but this was him in beast mode.

After what felt like a lifetime they heard a tiny noise from the monitor.

“Wait!” Everything froze. Bruce stared at the heart monitor, his fingers pressed against Loki neck, Tony’s hands paused. “We’ve got a heartbeat.” They stared at the screen willing it to hold. “It looks like a normal Sinus Rhythm. He’s back.”

Tony’s phone went off startling them nearly out of their own heartbeats.

Tony looked at the screen. “It’s Fury.”

The looked at each other and then at Loki whose thready heartbeat was measured in blips on a machine.

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be totally honest, I have no idea how a lot of medical things works so I got pretty much all of the medical stuff either from Google of from the fanfic Measure of a Man by Eleutherya. There is a scene in there that I drew from when I wrote this.
> 
> I am always open for criticism. This work is not beta read because I have no friends, so if you find an error please let me know an I'll fix it. If you have an idea of where this could go I love hearing your ideas!


	3. Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

They stared at the ringing phone.

“Tony what do we do?” Bruce whispered.

“We lie.”

Bruce gaped at him, “To Fury?! Are you out of your mind?!”

“Come on, we’ll just give him the Chitauri corpse downstairs and play this off as some kind of crazy interference.”

Immediately Bruce knew what he meant; a few day after the attack on New York they had picked up (stolen was probably a more accurate assessment) a Chitauri corpse and had been keeping it in a freezer for months. Who knows when they might need it. 

“You stay with him.” Tony pointed to Loki, “I’ll handle this.” 

Leaving Bruce with the alien god was the easy part, making the whole situation relatively okay was a whole other bag of cats.

“Jarvis,” he began, “thaw out that body. We’re gonna have to give it to Fury.”

_ “Yes sir. I also suggest taking Director Fury’s call he is quite persistent.” _

Tony took a fortifying breath and nodded. “Alright, put him through.” he braced himself.

_ “What happened Stark!”  _ Fury demanded.  _ “Was anything out there?” _

Tony rubbed his eyes and held the phone closer to his ear, “Well the portal was small and closed quickly, so that's good and wrapped up.”

Fury made a noncommittal noise,  _ “Did anything show up?” _

Tony glanced back down the hall. “Just a body.”

_ “A body?” _ Fury almost sounded alarmed. Almost.

“Yeah,” Tony tried his best to sound truthful as he lied through his teeth. “A chitauri body. It must have gotten caught between the realms when the portal closed last time and just resurfaced now.”

He could practically hear the gears turning in Fury’s head. Finally he accepted the story.  _ “Alright. I’ll pick up the body tomorrow. When would be good for you?” _

“I don’t know, sometime after noon. I’m probably going to be really hungover tomorrow.”

On the other end Fury rolled his eyes,  _ “Alright. You’re a real pain in my ass you know?” _

Tony laughed, relieved the topic had moved on. “Aw, you love me! I fund half your organization!”

Fury grumbled,  _ “Good night Stark.” _

His phone made a small blip as Fury hung up. Sagging against the wall the full weight of what he had just done crashed down on him. He, Tony Stark, had just lied to one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Stashing his phone back in his pocket Tony sprinted back towards the med bay. Upon entering the room he spied Bruce deftly wrapping plaster around Loki’s left leg, the right already encased in the material. Nervously he approached the hospital bed, “He still stable?”

Bruce secured the last of the plaster and went to work on his right arm. “For now, I want to hook him up to a ventilator; I don’t want him suffocating.” he handed Tony a pair of serrated scissors. “Get started on the thread.”

Tony spluttered as he took them. “What?! I’m not qualified to-”

Bruce exploded.

“TO HELL WITH QUALIFICATION!” Green was starting to creep into Bruce’s face as he stared at Tony. “I’M A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST AND A CHEMIST TONY! I’VE TAKEN THE SHIELD COURSES IN THIS STUFF BUT I’M NOT ACTUALLY QUALIFIED!!! TO HELL WITH IT! WE’RE THE ONLY CHANCE HE HAS!!!” Bruce gripped the edge of the bed as he heaved.

Tony held the scissors to his chest, stunned. Bruce ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. It’s just, the logical part of me that says we should hand him over to SHIELD and then there’s the other part that says we are the only people that will help. Then on top of all that the Other Guy is screaming at me and I just lost it.” he glanced back up at Tony, “I’m sorry.” 

The billionaire nodded. “It’s okay buddy, I get it.” The two scientists glanced down at the comatose god. Cautiously Tony leaned over the bed and gently worked the tip of the scissors under the first thread. “Here goes nothing.” He snipped the first thread. The two scientists checked for a reaction.

Nothing. 

“Yikes.” Tony said.

The inventor made quick work of the blood soaked thread, deftly easing it out of the ragged holes in the god’s lips. Other than his lips parting to drag in stuttering, wet sounding breaths Loki’s state remained unchanged.

“Yeah,” Bruce said, “Definitely a ventilator.”

\---

Two weeks later and nothing had changed.

The hand off between Stark and Fury had gone smoothly, the Director accepting the Chitauri body without even a second glance, and life in the tower had gone back to a state of relative peace.

Well… If you counted making sure a would be world conqueror kept breathing as peace that is.

They had placed the god in a closed off quarantine unit, hidden away from anyone who might happen to pass by. Due to the god’s superhuman healing rate the plaster casts on his arms and legs had come off and some of the wounds on his chest and back had begin to fade, leaving Loki a pitiful lump of bruises and half healed cuts under the white blanket.

Tony sighed, fifteen days… He had been hiding a norse god in his tower for fifteen days. As he watched Bruce ease the ventilator out of Loki’s windpipe and slide an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth Tony couldn’t help but wonder how his life had gone sideways so quickly.

“When do you think he’ll wake up?”

Bruce snorted, “Why, getting attached?”

Now it was Tony’s turn to laugh, “Ha! I just want him out my hair is all. Besides,” he ran a hand through his hair. “The longer he stays like this the more I worry that Cap or Romanov or someone will find him and, I mean, SHIELD doesn’t exactly have a squeaky record when it comes to prisoner treatment.”

The other scientist gave a small wince, “Ouch.”

A crash of breaking glass startled the two scientists out of their gloomy reverie. 

“What. The. Hell.”

Bruce and Tony slowly turned around, their eyes widened as they laid eyes on the figure standing in the doorway.

Tony held up his hands. “Pepper I can explain.”

She stood frozen, hands still grasping the air where her coffee had been. Her eyes darted from Tony to the god lying in a coma-like state on the bed. “Okay… Explain, and before you ask; I told Jarvis not to let you know I was coming. I knew you we’re up to something I just didn’t think it would be,” she made a gesture to Loki’s beaten form. “Well… this.”

Tony’s eyes remained fixed on Pepper, “That true J?”

The AI almost sounded sheepish.  _ “It is Sir. I do apologize but I also felt that Miss. Potts should know about this. She lives here too.” _

Astounded Tony glared at the ceiling, “Traitor.”

_ “Again, I do apologize.” _ Jarvis sounded extremely unapologetic 

“Pepper,” Bruce raised his hands in a placating gesture, “please don’t freak out. We know this looks bad, but we’re just trying to keep him alive until Thor shows up or something.”

Her mouth fell open, aghast. “Or something!? What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“We don’t really have a plan, we’re just trying to figure this out as we go ok?” Tony took Pepper’s hands in his own, “C’mon Pep, we’re trying to give Thor a chance to show up before we do anything.”

She deflated slightly and pulled her hands from Tony. Rubbing her eyes she sighed, “How long has he been here?”

“Fifteen days.” Bruce intoned.

“My God,” Pepper said.

Tony laughed, wincing at her word choice. “I mean… Accurate.”

She glared at him, “Does SHIELD know?” she huffed, “Nevermind, don’t answer that. He wouldn’t still be here if they knew.” Tony nodded. Pepper continued, “Has he been like this the whole time?”

Bruce sighed and straightened some of the tubing around the god, “Yeah, he’s been completely unresponsive. We tried waking him up a few times but nothing happened.”

Pepper stepped closer to the bed, “What happened to him?”

Tony shrugged, “We don’t know.”

\---

The first thing Loki noticed was the darkness. He blinked, slowly becoming aware of his body, shakily uncurling from where he lay in a fetal position on the inky ground. As he stood up his other senses began to kick in. He glanced around and tried to get his bearings. There were shapes, he noticed, in the blackness with him, chairs, tables, a bed, shelves. It was all cloaked in black but he recognized the room nonetheless.

He reached out. 

As his fingers brushed over the back of a chair color exploded over its surface. The colors burst outwards and raced over the ground, soaking into other pieces of furniture, forming walls, giving the room real shape. He turned around and around looking at the new sights. He had been floating in a dark haze for so long he had nearly forgotten what it was like to see, what it was like to touch. 

“Hello Loki.”

He fell over.

“Mother!”

Frigga was wearing black, long draping billows swallowed her frame, even the metalworking on her garments had been tempered black. Her hair was covered.

“I knew the truth,” there were tears in her eyes, “I- I knew.”

Loki stayed on the ground and pulled his legs under him to sit cross legged. “You  _ saw _ me? You could  _ see _ me? You  _ knew _ ?!” The accusation in his voice made Frigga flinch. She knelt down beside him and reached for his face, fingers ghosting over his cheek.

“I could not speak of what I saw, not to anyone, my vows would not allow it.” she gave a watery smile, “My son, so brave.”

Loki was a prideful creature, he knew that, he prided himself on being strong, he prided himself on his control, but in this moment he did not feel proud. Loki’s pride felt like it had been reduced to dust and scattered into the wind. He felt like a little boy, a little boy who had fallen and scraped his knees. He did not feel brave, he felt like a child, and he wanted his mother.

His breath hitched, “Móðir.”

Her arms were around him faster than he could comprehend. “Mín ástin,” she stroked his hair as he broke down, “þú ert öruggur.”

Loki wailed in his mother's arms. He shook and cried, letting out years and years of pain and rage. “I thought I could be strong enough! I thought I could resist him! I thought I could be good enough!”

Frigga gently rocked him as he cried, a steady stream of soft reassurances falling from her lips. As she held him in her arms and couldn't help but think of the first time she had held him. He had been so small, so delicate, icy heritage lines crawling over his little blue body like frost, and she had loved him as her own from that very first moment. 

They didn’t know how long they stayed like that, crumpled on the ground, but by the time Frigga pulled back to look at Loki he had almost fully cried himself out. The young god was a mess; large red blotches had risen high on his pale face, tear tracks still glistened on his cheeks, and his eyes were puffy and red.

She cupped his cheek, “My son, so brave.”

Loki’s laugh was sad, “I don’t feel so brave.” he hiccuped and a miserable look painted his face.

Frigga stroked his hair, “You will have to be.” She cradled Loki’s long body close, “You have been out of the titan’s clutches weeks now and you have been asleep for even longer.” She stroked his hair, “It is time you woke up.”

She felt Loki tense, “Will you visit me?”

Her response was immediate, “As often as I can.”

Distantly Loki felt his body twitch. Distanly he could feel sheets laying over him.

With a start he noticed the room around them was getting brighter. 

He clung to his mother, “Stay with me until I wake?”

She pressed a kiss to his hair, “Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually speak Icelandic so if I get something wrong tell me!
> 
> Móðir - Mother  
> Mín ástin - My love  
> þú ert öruggur - You are safe


	4. Blinding Light

Loki did not wake up instantaneously. It wasn't like the movies when a coma patients is asleep one second and then their eyes suddenly snap open the next, it was slow, frustrating, and Loki wondered if he should have just stayed in the soft void of sleep. Regardless, Loki found himself fighting to regain consciousness. He was out of the dark softness of his subconscious, but now he felt trapped between consciousness and sleep.

Pain wracked his body.

He felt his limbs jerk and twitch as he tried to force them to move.

Distantly heard raised voices around him.

“heart rate going up-” “hold him down-” “restraints-” “going to pull his stitches-” “waking up-”

He wheezed and gurgled as bile made its way up his throat.

“He’s gonna puke!” Why did that voice sound familiar? “Turn him on his side!”

Loki groaned as his stomach clenched painfully. The feeling only worsened as suddenly hands grabbed him, turning him onto his side and pulling his hair out of the way. As a particularly hard spasm wracked through his frame Loki shuddered and vomited up a thin, burning liquid.  _ ‘Of course,’  _ he thought bitterly,  _ ‘there’s nothing for me to even vomit up except my own stomach acids.’ _ Loki tried to remember the last time he ate and found with dismay that he couldn’t. The trash can was taken away from his face but he stayed rolled on his side.

As the churning in his stomach and the pounding in his head began to dissipate Loki became frightfully aware of the hands grasping his body at the shoulder and hip. His heart thundered is his chest. With a burst of inhuman strength he bolted upright, headless of the shouts of alarm around him, a noise like that of a wounded animal escaped him as he collapsed on the floor, quickly scooting into the corner. 

As the fit passed he shuddered, coughing and panting, and buried his head in his knees as tears of pain and frustration prickled at the corners of his eyes. Someone above him was speaking, soft words, trying to sound comforting. Loki growled and jerked further into his corner baring his teeth. He tried to open his eyes and was assaulted by blindingly bright lights. His eyes watered as he tried to see past the glare.

“Jarvis, dim the lights,” as the lights became less harsh Loki slowly opened his eyes, “That’s a lot better, thanks J.”

The god’s eyes widened to an almost comical level. He swallowed, fear casing the lump in his throat to wrench itself higher. The tension in the room skyrocketed. Loki’s eyes darted from person to person.  _ Bruce Banner (The Hulk), Tony Stark (The Iron Man), Unnamed redhead… Wait, who is she? _

Loki stared at Pepper, trying to figure out who she was.

Tony moved to stand slightly in front of her, scowl painted on his face. Loki cringed away from him and hunched down further into the corner. He curled in on himself as the pain from his outburst began to settle in. The other occupants in the room blurred slightly as he whimpered in pain.

Bruce’s soft voice floated down to him, “Loki? We aren’t going to hurt you. Can you hear me? Nod yes if you can.”

Loki didn’t look up but obediently nodded his head. He recalled his mother’s words; she had told him he was out of the Titan’s hands, but somehow this didn’t seem much better. At least with Thanos Loki knew what to expect, he had no idea what these Avengers might do to him.

Bruce glanced at Tony, worry digging lines in his face. “Loki, you’re just aggravating your wounds by staying on the floor. Can we get you up and back on the bed?” Loki’s head whipped up as he frantically shook his head.  _ NO! _ He thought. Helping him up would mean touching him and he refused to let those he called enemy touch him again. Bruce took a step back, “Ok, ok, we won’t do that just yet.”  The scientist shot Tony a bewildered look as he stepped away from the god. He spoke in a whisper so hopefully Loki couldn't hear him, “What do we do now?” at his side Tony shrugged, feeling slightly helpless and completely out of his depth.

“Loki? It’s Loki right?” Tony jerked around, shocked. Pepper had made a tentative advancement toward the cowering god. “Pepper!” The inventors eyes went wide. She ignored him.

Loki eyed her warily; he didn’t have any foreknowledge of her, she was an unknown. Unknown was dangerous.

“I promise I’m not here to hurt you, this is actually the first time I’ve ever seen you, that is-” she fumbled, “I didn’t know you were in the tower until now.”

The god glanced back and forth between Pepper and the two scientists. Tony looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. Bruce had a steadying hand around his arm.

“C’mon, I don’t bite.” Loki’s gaze snapped back to the woman in front of him. She extended a hand while still keeping a reasonable distance away from his huddled form. The offered hand seemed like an olive branch to Loki; he could either stay on the floor and slowly bleed to death, or he could take her hand and allow her to help him up, that or the other two would just do it by force. Glancing back and forth between the three faces it didn't seem like he had much choice.

Slowly, like a particularly paranoid hermit crab coming out of its shell, Loki uncurled from his ball and  hesitantly slipped his hand into hers. 

Pepper held still, just letting him hold her hand. She had dealt with Tony when he came back from Afghanistan and she knew that she had to let the god set his own pace, rushing would get them nowhere. She waited until Loki gave a turse nod before moving. Then gently, as though she was handling a glass sculpture, Pepper helped Loki into a vaguely upright position. She didn't touch him any more than she had to, fingers feather-light yet there as he needed. Pepper stayed next to him as he limped the few feet back to his bed and once he had settled back onto the soft surface she let go and stepped away.

Loki watched her with confused eyes. He was their enemy! Why would they help him? What was their motive? They had to have one. 

Bruce seemed to sense the the god’s impending meltdown. “Hey, why don't we let him rest for a little bit.” he offered Loki a kind smile that was met with icy wariness, “If you need us just wave at one of the cameras Jarvis will tell us.” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where he knew the discreet lens was placed. 

Loki’s eyes flicked up to it, a small line appeared between his brows. At the sight of the camera his face went blank and impassive, any emotions he had been feeling were stripped away and locked down. So that was how it was going to be; out of one prison and into another. It didn't matter how kind his jailers were, it didn't matter how clean this room was, it was still a cell, it was still a prison.

Loki looked down, gritting his teeth, he knew that no matter how wary he was of them Bruce's words were uncomfortably accurate. Loki acknowledged to himself that he was beginning to regret his outburst earlier. He could feel his wounds incessantly throbbing as a different kind of weariness began to set in. 

Sleepiness.

How could he be sleepy?! He had just slept for over two weeks! His eyes darted back and forth, too tired to make any other movement, and too suspicious to succumb to sleep while the others were there.

The three humans awkwardly shuffled out the door as they tried to give the god enough privacy to rest.

“Well,” Bruce said as the door shut behind them, “that could have gone a lot worse.”

“Speak for yourself! You’re not the one who nearly had a heart attack!” Tony ran his hands through his hair, “Are you alright Pepper? He didn't hurt you did he!?”

Pepper raised one eyebrow, “Tony I don't think he could hurt a fly right now much less me, I'm fine.”

The inventor visibly relaxed up her words. He let out a sigh and frowned. “He didn’t say a word. Did you guys notice that?”

Bruce nodded, “They sewed his mouth shut Tony. I wouldn't be too keen on talking if that had happen to me either.”  he shrugged, “The best we can do is give him time. We need to show him we're not going to hurt him, show him that he can trust us. We can’t know what might happen after that, but we have to give him an opportunity to at least heal, physically and mentally, before casting any more judgement on him.” 

“All right,” Tony glanced at Pepper as he processed Bruce's plan, “this is all well and good, but what do we do about the rest of the team? They stop by the tower all the time. How do we keep Loki away from them? At the rate he’s healing, especially since he's awake now, he'll be mobile pretty soon.”

“Well,” said Bruce, shrugging, “What's your favorite phrase; ‘we'll burn that bridge when we come to it’? I don't know, we'll figure it out…” 

Tony shook his head, slightly amused, “We’ll have to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the lovely people who have been reviewing this fic! It means a lot to me that you guys are liking this and sharing your ideas and opinions with me! Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> I am always open for criticism. This work is not beta read because I have no friends, so if you find an error please let me know and I'll fix it. If you have an idea of where this could go I love hearing your ideas!


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